Can Business Leaders Push Congress To Act On Immigration Reform?

Immigration reform advocates in the U.S. are hopeful that they can help push a bill through Congress by the end of the year. According to Kica Matos, a spokesperson for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), “It seems like Republicans are being held hostage by a minority of conservative members of Congress. The tea party seems to be what’s holding them back.” In a recent article, political analyst David Francis explained “As a whole, the Republican Party is not against finding a way to legitimize the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. Moderate Republicans, libertarians, the party’s business wing, and stalwarts such as Grover Norquist all support immigration reform.” Likewise, much of the U.S.’s senior business leadership has supported comprehensive immigration reform. Billionaire tech entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg and construction industry executives such as Caterpillar’s Doug Oberhelman have emerged as strong advocates for reform.

Facebook's Zuckerburg in particular has emerged as a strong supporter of reform, using his FWD.us advocacy group to champion the cause. He recently voiced his opinion that “This is something that we believe is really important for the future of our country — and for us to do what’s right.”

Microsoft's Bill Gates has also been vocal, explaining in an op-ed that “to remain competitive, we need a workforce that consists of the world's brightest minds [and we need to] make it easier for foreign-born scientists and engineers to work for U.S. companies.”

Likewise, Doug Oberhelman, the Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, a company that earned $65.9 billion in revenues last year, has voiced his opinion that “Providing consistent, reliable access to both high-skilled and low-skilled talent is critical to sustain our nation’s global competitiveness in many industries including healthcare, technology, manufacturing, hospitality, and tourism. We need reform that will provide opportunities for immigrants and foreign students to enter the U.S. and our workforce legally, attracting and keeping the best, the brightest, and the hard working.”

According to New York Times political correspondent Ashley Parker “an unlikely coalition of business executives, evangelical groups and prominent conservatives [is] coming together to urge House Republicans to put broad immigration legislation on the House floor, ideally before the end of this year.”

Randy Parker, chief executive of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, one member of the coalition, said “They need to act now. That’s the bottom line.”

According to Parker, the group of advocates is “largely taking aim at House Republicans who they think could support a broad immigration overhaul, including some sort of legal status for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. The leaders are urging the lawmakers to take a more proactive role in pushing immigration legislation to a House vote.”

Randel K. Johnson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president for immigration and labor issues, said “I’m confident we’re going to move the ball forward [when it comes to] reasonable immigration reform.”

The most conservative members of the Republican party, however, have clearly stated that they will not support any bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for people who came to the U.S. without proper documentation.

For instance, Ted Yoho, a Republican congressman from Florida said, “I care about the sovereignty of the United States of America and what it stands for, and not an open-door policy.”

According to Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., “The U.S. has a broken immigration system. People have been waiting for decades to get visas to come to the country to be with their loved ones.”

“The biggest crime they committed is that they came to this country to look for a better life. The result is we have families who are suffering and a government who can’t seem to get it together,” she added.

What’s interesting is that evangelical church groups and business leaders are also adopting a pro-active strategy to push recalcitrant Republicans towards reform.

Matos also said, “Republicans say they are okay with legalizing immigrants and providing them with residency. The next step is citizenship, which they oppose because they see it as rewarding law breakers. They fear that if we provide citizenship for 11 million immigrants, most of the new citizens will favor Democrats and thus the Republicans will lose some political power.”

Glenn Hamer, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry explained, “We are at a historical point in time right now. The last major immigration reform bill passed in 1986, and we believe there is a window for the United States House of Representatives to bring to the floor good immigration reform legislation.”

Harner and other business leaders working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to push for reform remain optimistic.

The group is “very optimistic that for the very first time in about 30 years, we are on the verge of getting good strong immigration legislation that will strengthen our border security, and advance our economy in a very significant way,” Harner said.

Although Republican opponents such as House speaker John Boehner continue to stand against comprehensive reform, Harner thinks “there is a window for something to happen before the end of this year.”